Surgical Strike Day: UGC's directive for political gain, says Congress

Criticising the University Grants Commission's (UGC) circular directing universities and colleges to observe 'Surgical Strike Day' on September 29, the Congress on Friday said that the motive of the directive is to reap political gains.

Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Kapil Sibal said that such moves by the statutory body destroys the independence of the university system. "I do not think since independence, we have seen UGC giving any kind of directive of this nature to universities. For UGC, to give a directive is destroying the very independence of the university system. The only motive of this directive is to reap political gains," Sibal said.

UGC has issued a circular requesting all higher educational institutions (HEI), universities and colleges to observe 'Surgical Strike Day' on September 29.

In a circular to Vice Chancellors of all universities, UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain has instructed that colleges may organise special parades, speeches by ex-servicemen about the sacrifices made by the Armed Forces to mark the day.

The Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the circular is only advisory in nature and not mandatory or imposed.

On 29 September 2016, the Indian Army carried out the surgical strike, 11 days after Pakistan carried out Uri attack in Jammu and Kashmir in which 18 Army personnel lost their lives.